(My 2011 in a poem.)

I Didn’t Know This Would Happen by John Steffler

Above Cabot Strait, the props
of the Dash-8 shake and grumble,
screwing us deeper
into the pure Newfoundland
cloud, north, farther
north where I live, the whole
cabin jiggling
loudly, the children
straining their feverish
voices- and it already feels
like home, the few people
aboard talking in groups
in the aisle, ordering
one another drinks- and I
wouldn’t change where I’m going,
into my awkwardness, my broken
marriage, troubles richer
than Voisey’s Bay, my
unexpected life off
all the maps I’d ever imagined,
the unfamiliar heart,
of where we all live.